So I've had this day-dream of a caveman game for a good decade, originally it was inspired by gta san andreas and specifically the way you start as a skinny little fella who is pretty weak and slow and then as you go you buff up and get faster and better at everything, and I imagined how cool would a game be set in prehistoric times say on an african savanah where you're a skinny teenager, son of a tribal chief who just got slaughtered and overthrown by a rival, who then proceeded to try and hack every male in the tribe to pieces, you escape to the wilds where suddenly you're alone and must adapt to survive, build up your strength and speed and skills hunting and fighting and crafting and just surviving, and perhaps ultimately build your own tribe and come back to your birth lands to get revenge on this villain guy and rescue your mother and sisters and aunties from his cruel ways...

Ok, so fast forward a decade and I can see even more potential in the prehistoric man setting, thanks to games like fallout and tes and the advances they have made in character creation, development and levelling. I'm a prehistoric man fan in general and within the last decade this field of scientific understanding has kind of taken off and the whole world of early humans is more intriguing and fascinating than ever.

I'm now thinking it would be so cool if you actually had multiple "races", but I guess they would be species and subspecies, based on known prehistoric hominids, either completely and directly named after them, or loosely inspired, I'm not sure. I'm starting to think loosely to allow for the fact that many of the hominids I have in mind lived at different times and different parts of the world. Instead perhaps a fictional continent, like tamriel, could be devised to allow for a rich tapestry of different hominids native to different zones, each still paying homage to real prehistoric peoples.

My thoughts are why not flesh out the 10 spaces that tes has set precedent for?

This is what I have in mind-

Homo Sapiens

Based on the original homo sapiens- africans. Pretty Straight forward. Dark skinned wirey haired african people.

Homo Sapiens (cro magnon)

Cro magnon is actually an outdated term, and it would be fitting to come up with something else. But these people would represent the earliest european homo sapiens, as that was what the term originally was used to describe. Recently it's been discovered they were actually mixed with neanderthal. Basically this will be "white people", as obviously some people might want to play as white people. Never mind the fact that it's believed europeans only got really "caucasian white" skin around 8-6000 years ago, a while after they were done being cavemen. We'd have to overlook this I think. The neanderthal influence was more notable on cro magnon in the early days, and he was very powerful and rugged.

Homo Sapiens (clovis/innuit)

There's not really a distinct fossil to reference here but rather just knowledge that their was an early homo sapien ancestor of east asians, innuit and the paleo indians of the americas. These people could sort of be a mash up of these people. They're a significant player in the history of man so should be included. Their strength would be advanced crafting and weaponry, especially ranged weapons. Never mind this is because they're less prehistoric than the others, it's all good.

Homo Erectus (Ergaster)

Homo Ergaster lived in africa over 1 million years ago and is believed to be the direct ancestor of homo sapiens, java man, neanderthal, and heidelberg man. It is the original homo erectus, although homo erectus erectus is the scientific name for java man from indonesia as he was the first homo erectus fossil found. Ergaster is notable for his athleticism.

Homo Erectus (peking man/java man)

Peking man is a homo erectus fossil found in china while java man was found in indonesia, but they appear to be similar if not the same species.

I figure it makes sense to mash them up. They would range from light skin to dark skin, and are smaller than ergaster but industrious and good at crafting tools.

Homo Erectus (Heidelbergensis and antecessor)

Homo Heidelbergensis is quite similar to ergaster but lived more recently and had a larger brain case, it had also spread out, still living in africa but also europe and west asia. Like ergaster they were big and athletic. Some fossils found in europe are considered a different species (antecessor), but they're so similar they should definitely be mashed up for our purposes (if not irl as well). Very athletic and strong, also prolific cannibals. Pretty damn badass all around.

Homo Neanderthalensis

I'm guessing most know a bit about this character, lived in europe for quite a while before humans ever showed up, was very stocky and strong with heavy bones and very intelligent (larger brain case than man), but less adept at running than it's african cousin and perhaps less creative. Well suited to the cold and hunting extra large game, had a nearly all meat diet.

Homo Denisova

Very little is known about Denisovan man, only a segment of finger bone and a fragment of jaw has been discovered to my knowledge. However DNA anolysis could determine they were closely related to neanderthal, basically the asiatic neanderthal, we also know they had dark skin(unlike neanderthal) from clues in their genes, and we also can get clues about them from melanesian people, who it has been found are actually 6% denisovan. For a game's purpose I think we'd go with dark skinned neanderthals with some melanesian characteristics. In a game denisovans and neanderthals would be the tank like "bruisers".

Homo Floresiensis

You might remember the "hobbit" skeleton that was discovered a while back? That was this guy, he was actually a little dark skinned pygmy that lived in south east asia, they stood under 4 foot tall (the skeletons found are 3'6" and 3'7" for advlts). In a game it would make sense to counter their obvious weaknesses with extreme aptitude in trees and sneaking and projectiles, maybe also poisons?

Homo Habilis

Think planet of the apes, this is your "Beast race" as it was indeed an ape man. In truth it was no match for homo ergaster and went extinct soon after he emerged, but a game could depict it with it's own strengths, like, for example, strength. It could be good in the trees like floresiensis, good stealth, but then more brutish and close-quarter adept.

Sooo.... what do you think so far of this idea? Anything to add? I'm thinking the key point would be survival, so finding food and water and defending yourself from predators and etc etc would be main components of the gameplay, not much time for elaborate drama and fandangled stories in this era.

It would be so cool if we all got enthusiastic about this, fleshed it out heaps and got bethesda's attention, but maybe not everyone is as caveman mad as me?

I see a quest for drawing something in the cave. Like, "Leave traces of your existence for future. Draw a picture on the wall of your cave." (That is, if the PC has own cave already. Or just happen to be staying or browsing through one.)

Excellent idea, definitely cave painting has to be incorporated somewhere for the game to be a full celebration of cave men. I'm kind of attached to the idea of starting with nothing, being a lone shunned vulnerable pariah out in the open scary wilds. Claiming a cave would be a goal for sure, but caves would be hot property, and you'd have to build yourself up to be strong (or cunning) enough to overthrow the resident bear, or sabretooth or giant baboon clan (as examples).

I say giant baboon clan because I remember reading about a fossil discovery of a massive massacre of giant baboons performed by early humans, and specifically to take over their cave. Pretty gnarly. The baboons were physically formidable as all hell (an extinct giant species) and greater in number than the men, but it showed how man had mastered the use of tools. I believe this was ergaster but it might have even been habilis.

Back to cave painting, I've heard somewhere that it's believed the cave paintings went hand in hand with their story telling and mythology, and also their music. They were kind of "shows" put on, maybe repeated again and again, for entertainment and also passing on knowledge (albeit maybe factually lacking a lot of the time).

Maybe you could use cave painting to galvanise and strengthen your tribe (once you build one), if you keep it up they remain fiercely loyal and productive, without it you risk dropping morale, causing discontent and ultimately backstabbing and who knows what else.

You could have different ways of making fire, making rudimentary tools like a wooden club, a blow pipe, a slingshot with rocks, a spear, etc. Have hunting and gathering, specific spots for different edible plants, certain animals, etc. Maybe even build a raft to get down river. I like the cave drawing idea as well... Perhaps when you do different quests/activities your cave drawings become larger and more elaborate.

Great ideas. Definitely on the same wavelength with making weapons. I also really would want the simple act of being able to pick up a stone off the ground and throw it, or use it as a club to bash an enemies head in. Initially you might not be able to make weapons beyond chipping away at a stone to make it pointy. Later you can use your pointy stone to sharpen sticks into spears, etc. Tie your sharp stone to a stick with animal hide to make a stone axe, which could then be used as to carve out a canoe or make a raft perhaps. I think floresiensis should be native to an island off the main continent, which you could swim or raft too. Not without great risk. Monstruous sea predators are a given. Hunting and gathering also a given, and there also could be risk there with certain plants and fruits being toxic, as well as animals.

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming, also how enthusiastic would you be for such a game?

Well, maybe not a clan of beast in that cave. Clan sounds like a lot of them need to be fought and a lot of preparation. But more like a handful, a small(er) group.

An added challenge might be keeping the cave. Like, a random time quest to ward off a potential cave stealing beast(s) (or maybe even another humanoid(s). Playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted I wished they had challengers who'd come looking to topple me. (Which was sort of delivered in Carbon, I guess.)

Quite. I love the idea. It could even have survival horror elements, if your fire goes out, wolves track you in the darkness.... as well as other predators.